Echoing what Mark said yesterday, the Skins situation is disgusting. It just underscores that when your owner is a conniving scumbag, he doesn't heal from that condition while he's making gobs of money off the team. Who knows what the McCloughan situation was really all about, but someone predicted that the douches at the top would claim alcohol was the problem once they wanted to part ways, and it looks like that's happening. There's not enough decency capital in Snyder's account to give him the benefit of any doubt.

And the timing is brilliant.

My ridiculous hypothesis of the day is that they are surrounding Cousins with dreck instead of top receivers for 2017, thinking his numbers will shrink and they can offer less money and also save face when he leaves. Preposterous idea. Not out of the realm of possibility.

Rob was smart to dump this team. My days of telling the Skins "I can't quit you" may be on the wane.

Do you guys mind if I brag about my oldest for a minute? Ok. My man Declan has become a swimmer of pretty solid proportions. Currently at the Florida Age Group Championships (FLAGS) in Stuart, FL. You have to be strong to very strong to be here - must hit qualifying times in each event to do so. And Florida has the toughest times in the country...you're a top 1%-2%'r if you are here. D is 8. He swims in the "10 & Under" age group. As you might suspect, the great majority are 9 & 10. There are five eight year olds here this week out of roughly 100 or so in the age group, maybe more. Today he had the 50 fly and 100IM. Came in 14th in the Fly out of 45 kids and besting 2 other 8 year olds; and 35th out of 64 in the 100IM, the 2nd 8-year old of I think 3 total. So...by that, we/I can say my boy Declan is the fastest 8 year old 50 Fly guy in the state of Florida (which we, that is the coaches, already suspected, and certainly in the top dozen or so in the US) and safely among the top 5 8 years olds in general, in the state. How fucked up in a good way is that?

What does this mean? Who the fuck knows? He's 8. I will say he is one focused mother effer and is all in, at least at the moment, with this endeavor. We let him know whatever the hell he wants and don't push. On the contrary. I should note that if you go through the records for this event...several are held by current and past gold medalists - Ryan Murphy, Caleb Dressel, and our favorite Ryan "Jeah!" Lochte. Will maybe put of some of his swim vids later. Word to your mother.

That's pretty cool, Dan. My high school won multiple state swimming titles and sent a number of kids to big D1 schools on swimming scholarships. The amount of practice those kids put in both before and after school was nuts. Good for your boy. Hope he continues to enjoy it.

I guess they're all "past" gold medalists, technically. Am I right?Right on Mark. We let him do what he wants, practices aren't required for anyone, but they are held 6 days per week with dryland on Monday. Five of the six are 90 minutes and they swim 3000-4000 yards. Most kids go to 4 practices weekly. Whatever blows up your skirt is what I say.

For sure. My philosophy is to have my kids try any sport they want. If they play a season and don't want to continue then that's fine.

That's how my stepdaughter discovered lacrosse. Signed her up for a club team theee years ago and she loved it. She has a game at 7 tonight. Florida plays Vandy and Duke takes on UNC at that same time. I'll be the parent with his iPad in the stands watching basketball.

Trump used to say that the employment rate was a hoax, but now he says it's great under his steady hand. When this flip-flop was pointed out he told Spicer to say "They may have been phony in the past but it's very real now." Everyone laughed, including Spicer. This is the new normal? This is insane.

if you live near the dc area, don't expect to have any milk or toilet paper on offer at your local market. rumors of epic snowfall on monday night into tuesday will send our region into a goddamned tizzy.

In non-aquatic news, my purple vinyl LP of the new Spoon album has been put in the mail. For me. May be a cause to fall off the wagon, although my sobriety binge (34 days!) has me feeling pretty good. When you don't drink and you eat a lot of fruit, your bowel movements are predictable and untraumatic. Nice benefit.

That Duke-UNC game was fun last night. You should believe the hype - the Blue Devils are coming together at the perfect time.

And I'll admit that I like Grayson Allen. Dude plays with passion. His 3-point shooting and passing were the keys in the second half, along with Joel Berry's foul problems. It's like he takes all the opponent's fans' vitriol, leaving his teammates to just play. Sure, he's a douche, but he's effective.

Hi GTBers! Getting to the point in my studies when I'm doing original research. I'm doing nationwide focus groups with people who have student loan debt currently. So not paid off. I'm trying to keep cost and travel down so coupling this with work trips. SOOOO.....

Does anyone have contacts in Atlanta, Flagler County FL, Portland, or Las Vegas? I'm not paying the participants but I'm happy to cover their bar tab for 90 minutes if I can audio record them. Luckily DC and Chicago I have plenty of takers! THANK YOU for any leads!

Grayson Allen is good. He's a spaz, lacks emotional maturity and plays for Duke. It's an unfortunate combination. Oh, and he looks like a young Ted Cruz.

With all that said, Luke Kennard becoming Duke's most consistent offensive player is the best thing that happened for Duke this year. He's so damn good. Tatum is the second best offensive player now. Which makes Allen that much more effective and less crucial. If Giles continues to look better/healthier they're my pick for the tourney.